Reference Grammar

[Quaeso]

Would you recommend what you think is the best reference grammar for Spanish written in English, and also written in Spanish? Is there a "gold standard" as they say?

[wrholt]

I don't know that there is universal agreement on which reference grammar is the "best", much less universal agreement on what criteria one would use to evaluate reference grammars. You might consider doing a web search on "spanish reference grammar in English", see what hits you get, and look for customer reviews.

The reference grammar in English that I am most familiar with is A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish by John Butt, Carmen Benjamin, and Antonia Moreira Rodríguez. I bought the 5th edition many years ago, a few years before the 6th edition (the most recent) was published. I like it a lot.

For grammar information in Spanish, the most authoritative is probably the Nueva gramática de la lengua española (the NGLE), prepared and published by the Real Academia Española (RAE). Their website supports looking up both grammar information and dictionary entries from their published works, including both the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española (the DRAE) and the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (the DPD).

[Quaeso]

Thank you, I may have to look at Butt's grammar (~1967?), but I generally prefer older ones. Do you know of anything from circa 1900?

[aleCcowaN]

You might end up looking into Andrés Bello's

If you are interested in the inner workings of mood selection in Spanish, you may look for works from Ruiz Campillo and Lidia Lozano. Their looks on Spanish subjunctive are in opposition yet they complement each other.